For years, as the chairperson of the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA), Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba was vocal about his dissatisfaction with certain NRM policies, particularly those related to economic management and poverty alleviation.
As an academic and a poverty eradication expert, he frequently questioned the effectiveness of initiatives such as Bonnabagagawale (Prosperity for All), a program designed by the government to lift Ugandans out of poverty.
“You cannot get poor people out of poverty by throwing money at them. This is wrong, and any economist will tell you that,” he wrote in an opinion in Daily Monitor in July 2007.
On another occasion, Nuwagaba wrote that Museveni had turned Uganda into a “big supermarket” for Kenya-made goods because his economic policies did not favour local production.
At that time, Nuwagaba had his grievances. His application to be elevated to a status of a professor by the university’s Appointments Board had been shelved for long in part because he had been critical of government.
Museveni then looked at MUASA’s Nuwagaba and his acolytes like Dr. Tanga Odoi as trouble causers.
During a meeting at State House to resolve a staff strike at Makerere in 2009, Museveni told the duo that he would handle them firmly.
Change of heart?
Whatever the president’s statement meant, it must have struck some fear into Nuwagaba. By the early 2010s, he had softened his rhetoric and begun to praise Museveni’s leadership.
In 2015, he compared Museveni to Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s liberator, arguing that he had played a transformative role in the country’s economic and political landscape.
This marked the beginning of his increasing alignment with the NRM, signaling a calculated shift from an independent intellectual voice to a loyal supporter of the ruling establishment.
He was invited to make presentations at various cabinet and NRM retreats in Kyakwanzi and was appointed to the board of the Bank of Uganda.
Nuwagaba even contested in the NRM primaries for Kabale Municipality, losing to Dr Francis Runumi. He stood as an independent in the subsequent elections and still lost.
He fell on hard times. His Reev Building in Wandegeya was almost taken by a money lender over failure to clear debts.
He started lobbying whoever he thought was close to Museveni to help him meet the big man.
From former prime minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda to Kisoro businessman Caesar Mulenga, Nuwagaba made his case to whoever lent him their ears. At that point, sources said, he just wanted to be appointed anything even a presidential advisor.
When this strategy appeared to be going nowhere, he fell back to his trusted method of writing opinions and featuring on TV stations to give him the needed visibility.
His consistent praise of the NRM’s economic direction led to speculation that he was attempting to catch President Museveni’s attention.
In February 2022, Nuwagaba developed what he termed an “eight-point plan” that could take Ugandans out of poverty.
The components of the plan were:
- Every Uganda family must have some functional economic activity
- Everyone should work hard
- Everyone should save money, however small, for investment
- Everyone should have a target to focus on
- Families should work as an enterprise, including all relatives working in harmony.
- Access to quality health care,
- Good laws and policies on infrastructure development
- Patriotism
In the end, he caught Museveni’s attention. His appointment as deputy governor of the Bank of Uganda has been a long journey with many twists and turns.
His new position places him at the heart of Uganda’s financial system and gives him the platform to implement some of his economic ideas.
Yet, looked at broadly, Nuwagaba’s trajectory is not unique. It is part of a broader political culture where Museveni’s critics, faced with the realities of economic survival, often find themselves drawn into the very system they once opposed.
Whether his tenure at the Bank of Uganda will be defined by economic independence remains to be seen.
The only clear thing is that he has firmly entrenched himself within Museveni’s orbit.
Flies get attracted to a pot of honey, and drown therein.
Most insects cannot resist the allure of a bright light, ignoring the heat therefrom that will eventually mummify them.